Building Foundations, Part Two

I believe that as moms, we have a precious responsibility--to be the architects who will build foundations into our children's lives that will influence future generations. Today I want to share with you about choosing the materials we build with, as well as some of the things I found so important to do with my own children as they were growing up.

Someday perhaps I'll learn how to use all this wonderful technology ... or perhaps not. I pray you'll give me grace and just enjoy what I have to share with you today!

I'd also like to announce the winner of my Spirit-Led Parenting Giveaway: Rachel! Please send an email with your information to admin (at) wholeheart (dot) org and we will get it right out to you; congratulations!

The Long-Term Work of Mothering

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever ... In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. ~ John 14:15-21

A sweet mom wrote me a letter this week and said that she and her friends had been reading through Ministry of Motherhood together. She said they really enjoyed it, but it was a little overwhelming because it felt like I was always so positive about my children and that I always loved them. Then she asked if I really always felt that way.

Of course not! We all go through seasons where we wonder if some of our children came from another family. Sometimes we have feelings that suggest we are not really a good mom because we don’t even like our children. And sometimes we just wish we could escape.

I learned very early in my Christian life about the concept of obedience. God asked me to obey Him with my heart and Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will obey Me.” So, obedience is out of love, not feeling. Many times, I would do the right thing, even though my feelings didn’t match. In other words, I knew it was right to “act” in a loving, patient manner towards my children. Or I knew that God wanted me to “respect” Clay–even times when I did not feel like it! But because I wanted to love Jesus, I would obey. What I found out is that my feelings would follow. In other words, the more I obeyed the Lord in serving my children and encouraging them, the more of an investment they became to me, and the more I cherished them and began to see just how important children are in God’s economy.

Growth is a long process. My deep love and reverence for these children has grown after many, many years of cherishing them–sometimes because I truly loved and enjoyed them–and sometimes purely out of faith. But, as I have said before, as in a garden, whatever you water and nourish the most in this garden of life is what will flourish. If you water the garden of family and children and love and life-giving and beauty, it will grow and flourish–it is a long-term work.

I have a special treat for you! My sweet friend Misty Krasawski, who is also our Community Director at MomHeart Online, is launching her new blog called Encouraging Beautiful Motherhood today! We did an interview a few weeks ago as part of her online mentoring program, Titus2University, and she's making the audio available today as a free download. She also has some wonderful giveaways and I think you'll enjoy her site so please go say hello, download our chat and take a look around! 

Dreams and Visions Do Come True! Australia, here we come!

Are there any dreams in your life that burn in your heart? That captivate your imagination? That are from the Lord? Clay and I dreamed together about how we could reach our world with the message of parents discipling and building a godly generation. We went almost five years without a full salary. I baked and sold homemade cinnamon rolls for some extra income. We all became actors in a local dramatic production that played six months out of the year and we received $800 amongst the six of us. We prayed, dreamed, worked and believed and took a risk and God blessed. And now we have books in six languages, conferences all over the world and three websites/blogs.

We continue to dream how we can bring God's kingdom principles to bear on our world until we go to be with Jesus.

How about you? Are you walking by faith? Seeking to have an impact? Trust God with the dreams He has put on your heart? So many I see will only attempt something if they can see the outcome and determine the financial security--but God loves to work with those who are depending on Him! That is why I can't wait to tell you about another dream come true.

We prayed we could help families all over the world. Then wonderful followers/friends in Australia and New Zealand invited us to speak in multiple venues over the two countries on a two week speaking trip. On this trip, I met lovely Barb Somervaille, who became a cherished friend. Fast forward several years and a group of moms wanted me to return to do an Australian Mom Heart Conference. I told them that I would prefer it if they would fly to America to go through our intensive leadership training and go back to Australia and start a Mom Heart Movement.

And so these precious ones returned home, built a blog, and are hosting their first ever national Mum Heart Retreat. So all of you sweet friends from Australia get the word out.

Here is the scoop: Click on the picture for the link to the conference site! ( www.mumheartconference.com)

For any Australian mums wishing you could wing your way over to USA for a Mom Heart Conference – we have great news!  We have our first MUM Heart Conference coming up in Queensland in  mid-June. Alas, not with Sally, but certainly inspired by Whole Heart. It is going to be amazing! I am so encouraged after attending Sally’s Intensive in August last year, and looking forward to gathering Australian mums together for our own wonderful conference.

And all of you sweet moms all over the world, what are some of your dreams? How will you trust God to work, through faith, to build those dreams into reality? Today is a good day to seek Him and then step out in faith!

Building Foundations, Part One

 

I just love feeling as though I'm talking right to all of you sweet moms, and so I'm sharing another vlog with you today. This is a bit of the story of the landscaping and building of Glen Eyrie, the beautiful castle and estate in Colorado Springs which is  now headquarters and conference center for The Navigators, and what it can demonstrate for us about building foundations in our own lives and the lives of our children. I hope you will enjoy it--please remember I'm not a professional videographer and you may need to turn your sound up a bit!

I pray you know how important your days are. Building foundations in your children's lives is the most important work of all--and the job has been gifted to you, dear mom! May you be strengthened today and feel the pleasure of God in your moments.

Spirit-Led-Parenting

I'm so glad today to be sharing with you news of a new book I've had the privilege of reading before its launch. Megan Tietz and Lauren Oyer have written about life with babies and I know you're going to enjoy it! Megan agreed to share a little about the book here, AND we have a copy of it to give away! Just leave a comment telling us why this book would be a blessing to you. And please pass the word along!~Sally

I have a friend who is a perfect mother. I know there’s no such thing, but I’ve often suspected that God created at least this one exception. Just my age, but a few years ahead of me in parenting, she kept it all so beautifully together; an obedient toddler and contended baby, a marriage that still gave off a newlywed vibe, and a home that embraced guests with its warmth and peace. If my Bible had more pictures, her likeness would undoubtedly smile up at me from the 31st chapter of Proverbs.

She tapped me on the shoulder one day when I was pregnant with my first child, offering a book she said had helped her tremendously during her son’s infancy and then her daughter’s. Honestly, I was sold before I opened the front cover. So deep was (and is) my admiration and affection for this woman that I knew, just knew, whatever those pages held was the answer. Surely the way God led her was the right way for me too. Surely I didn’t even need to ask Him for direction. I’d just found it!

Then my daughter was born. And the path staked out in the books I’d read and trodden by the people I longed to emulate – well, it just wouldn’t work. No matter how desperately I tried to force myself and my baby girl to adapt to the mold it seemed we had to fit, I failed completely every time. My days and nights were a jumble of expectations unmet, and as I silently rebelled by ignoring the popular advice, I sat in harsh judgment of myself. Fear had overtaken me, whispering warnings that I was ruining my child, condemning my marriage, and turning my back on God Himself.

What I didn’t realize then was that I had allowed the noise all around me to muffle the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit – waiting to offer me freedom to step into the unique plan and purpose God had designed for my family. His way for us. If only I would dare to listen.

As followers of Christ, we all want to honor God with everything, especially parenting. Few of us have the luxury of raising our children surrounded by our families, and one of the best things about a faith community is that for many of us, we find a surrogate family. It is a natural tendency to look to the people in our faith community who are good parents, whose children are a blessing to be around, the ones who seem confident and sure in the parenting path they have chosen, and rather than simply gleaning wisdom from their lives and allowing them to mentor us more closely into the ways of Jesus, to decide instead that we must be exactly like them.

So we sit metaphorically at their feet, reading what they read, mimicking what worked best for their families, eschewing the practices that they call out as harmful. We assume we will find the same confidence, success, and peace that they did as they followed the Lord’s leading, and we forget to seek and ask and search out how our Creator – who formed us and our children with stunningly perfect uniqueness - might be guiding our families through the infant months.

That is precisely what marked the earliest months of mothering for my co-author Megan and me. Though we didn't know it at the time, we were on parallel paths, each of us wanting so much to make godly choices in parenting, and each of us perpetually frustrated because what seemed to work so perfectly for other families only created stress, anger, and disappointment in our own.

We felt so alone, so incredibly isolated in our struggles. Well-meaning questions from others about baby's sleep or schedule or playtime caused us to cringe and even lie to cover up the truth: we were failing miserably at following the instructions in the books that were so often turned-to and revered by our friends.

In Spirit-Led Parenting: From Fear to Freedom in Baby's First Year, we tell the story of how in the midst of our worry, inexperience, and fear, we had become so entangled in the opinions and experiences of people around us, that we had abandoned sitting at the feet of Christ to seek His guidance for this season of life. Because the Bible doesn't speak specifically to the day-to-day choices of infant care, we had succumbed to the temptation to let the voices of others drown out the voice of the Spirit of God.

As a loving and patient parent, God allowed us to discover that there was another way to approach parenting, a way which refuses to prey upon the fears harbored by many new parents, a way that offers, instead, the freedom to pursue His leading for each individual parent, child, and family.

So why on earth would two women who have, in moments of frustration, thrown parenting books to the ground then choose to write one ourselves?

Because to the darkest of struggles we endured in those days, God brought a powerful redemption. He allowed us to discover a radical idea: the first year of parenting should be less about training our babies and more about allowing ourselves to be trained by Him.

Because our tender Heavenly Father used that intense first year of parenting to teach us how to live a life that is fully surrendered to Him, a life that is saturated with His grace.

Because we know we aren't the only ones for whom that first year of parenting turned out to be so very different than we thought it would be, and we are compelled to share the message that parenting through infancy can be a year of discovering new and life-changing joy and a release from the captivity of guilt and shame.

Because He set us free.

Spirit-Led Parenting is the first release from authors Megan Tietz and Laura Oyer. Megan writes about faith, family and natural living at SortaCrunchy and lives in western Oklahoma with her husband and two daughters. Laura blogs her reflections on the real and ridiculous things of life at In The Backyard, and makes her home in Indiana with her husband, daughter, and son.

Book Study: The Mission of Motherhood, Chapter One!

 

A Journey Like No Other ... Discovering the Mission of Motherhood

"But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. Give her the products of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:30-31

I believe every child has one profound need: to be loved, cherished, and cared for by her very own mother, whose womb was her first home. And it's not just a need, but an important part of God's design for shaping human beings according to His will.

For thousands of years the view of motherhood described in the Bible was generally respected in Western culture. Motherhood was seen as a noble and important calling. Women considered themselves blessed to bear many children, and it was considered normal and good for home and family to be the central focus of a woman's life.

By the time I became a mother, however, the American culture had dramatically redefined the role of motherhood, and the biblical model of motherhood no longer drove the imagination of culture. Somehow, over the course of the last century, traditional motherhood had become a lifestyle option--and for many, a lesser option--rather than a divine calling.

One confidant told me, 'The most important thing you can do with your life is invest it in your children. Their lives are more important than building a career!' And what she said certainly seemed to ring true in my spirit.

But other advisors assured me that I could handle the challenge of balancing children with career--after all, most of the mothers I knew were doing just that. One woman, an older missionary, even advised, "Don't let your children control your life! You've got lots of gifts and messages and a ministry to share with the women of the world! It would be a waste of your time and experience to focus too much on your children and lose your ministry! Don't have more children. It will take up too much time.”

~from  The Mission of Motherhood, Chapter One

I'll never forget the look on the man's face that afternoon.

My friend and I were in her front yard, setting out items for a garage sale. It was a chilly morning, and the neighbor across the street clutched a steaming cup of coffee as he walked over to say hello and look over the goods. My friend introduced us and as he shook my hand, she added, "She has three boys!"

The man stopped mid-shake, wide-eyed. "But ... you look so happy!"

Ahhh, yes. Welcome to this century's evaluation of children!

You probably hear it, too ...

Please click the link here to join us at MomHeart Online to read the rest of this week's book study--and be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section! 

Facebook, Meth and the Real World

Today I wanted to share this great post my daughter Joy wrote at her blog. She is a wise one, this girl. You will be greatly challenged by these thoughts. It is the direction I am seeking to go in my own personal life, as I want to end loving God and investing in what it real. Read and pass on! You can find her at: joynessthebrave.wordpress.com

FACEBOOK, METH AND THE REAL WORLD

The human body is a masterpiece. Fine tuned for action, beautifully sculpted, incredibly efficient. One of the incredible things about our bodies is that they thrive on being happy, energized, and focused. Perfectly designed so that when we accomplish a task, or reach a goal, we feel pleasure. Our brain produces chemicals like dopamine, Achetycholine, and seratonin. Naturally, these neurotransmitters stimulate and regulate your body every day. Keeping you generally happy and healthy.

Our bodies naturally should feel happy and healthy, and left to their own devices, they generally do a pretty good job. So what happens, when you exchange the natural stimulants of your body for unnatural stimulants? Take Meth, for instance. Naturally, certain chemicals (as stated above) take care of your mood, focus, and pleasure centers. Meth, imitates. Dopamine makes you happy and feel pleasure, Meth does too. For a short time, but intensified. Acetycholine makes you focus. So does Meth, for a short time. But, it’s deceptive.

A drug user will initially feel great. They’ll feel pleasure more intensely, be able to focus, feel happy… for a little while. It pretends to be like the natural function long enough for you to get hooked. It pretends to be REAL. A user will feel more on top of the world than ever before, like they are a confident, capable, social person. Why didn’t I ever do this before? they’ll think. And at first, there’s not a good answer.

But just wait. It wears off. You need more of it, more than you have ever needed something in your life. The need for it consumes you. And then, it begins to eat away at your body. Your body was not made for meth. It was made for dopamine, and seratonin, and Achetycholine. When meth takes over, your body stops functioning. Your hair falls out, your teethe rot, you get sores… you go crazy. Eventually your body stops producing the natural chemicals, and you can never get back. You will have exchanged the natural for the unnatural, and it will kill you.

This is what we do.

God created us in a beautiful, functional, perfect way. To walk in good works. To glory in his relationship. To get fulfillment out of work. To get pleasure out of marriage. It is our natural style of living, our created mode. It is right and true. It works. However, we think we have a better way. So we substitute God’s glorious ways for our own. And the deceptive thing about sin? Just like meth, it works for a little while. It imitates how we are SUPPOSED to feel. But in the end, it’s corruptible, and it corrupts us. And it kills us.

Read this passage in Romans 1. It’s what sparked this whole post.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

We KNEW God. This (pardon the movie reference) shatters my entire universe. We know the incorruptible and yet, we exchanged it. As I have been pondering this, I have been wandering, what in my life am I exchanging God’s incorruptible glory for the corruptible? I can happily say, that I am not doing meth, but sometimes the corruptible things aren’t that obvious. They aren’t necessarily even that “bad” looking from the outside. They imitate or appeal to the truth in me, but aren’t the truth.

Take the rather fake world of Facebook. Okay, I feel you sighing, and raising your eyebrows and saying “Oh, brother! She’s gonna guilt trip me and tell me that facebook of Satan” through my computer screen. Don’t worry, I’m not going to. I’ll keep the guilt tripping to a minimum, especially considering I am an active participant of the Facebook world. With that said… I have some developed some recent convictions.

SO. Facebook.

As humans, we are created for relationships. God said it wasn’t “good for a man to be alone.” We are created for family, friends, spouses. As an extravert I thrive off of people, talking, fun, and socializing. I like people liking me! I like PEOPLE!!!! Wohoo!… Okay, you get the idea. And that’s aye-okay! The way God meant it to be. There is a deep desire for camaraderie built in our souls.

Facebook plays into that desire. First of all, Facebook is always there, ever available. Bored at home? Someone ought to be on Facebook, right? Feeling forgotten? Post a status on Facebook and see how many people like it. Feel like you’re not involved in anyone’s life? Check out other peoples facebooks.

We’ve ALL done it.

So, you may be wandering, what’s wrong with this? Nothing is inherently wrong with it. Especially the desires. It’s NATURAL to want people. NATURAL to be lonely. NATURAL to want to have friends. But here’s the thing, God made a REAL world. With touchable, real people to fill this need. He made families and friends and neighbors. Sometimes, living in a disappointing world as we do, we WILL feel lonely. But the fact remains that there is a REAL world. Facebook just imitates. Liking a status doesn’t mean you know someone. Writing on someone’s wall doesn’t mean you’re friends with someone. It’s not real. Nothing can replace the beauty, and warmth of true friendship. And, in the long run, if you were to totally substitute the reality of friendship, for something like Facebook, you would find yourself more alone than ever.

It’s exchanging the incorruptible for the corruptible.

It’s like substituting a natural body chemical for a drug.

Don’t get me wrong. Facebook isn’t the hypothetical meth of the world, but it’s one example of our pitiful attempts to make our own way instead of God’s. And they really are pitiful.

God comes up with Friendship… We come up with facebook.

God comes up with marriage… We come up with uncommitted, broken, relationships.

God comes up with Sunrises… We come up with computer screens.

God comes up holiness… We come up with sin.

I think God wins.

The thing is, God’s way of life, His incorruptible glory, is AWESOME! It’s full of life, joy, peace, purpose! It makes us thrive. It’s living as we were supposed to! He has set a real world out before us. With real people, real purpose, real holiness. More real than any substitute that we could come up with. Just like our natural chemicals make our bodies happy, so living in God’s perfect, beautiful design, makes life as it ought to be… Glorious!

I want to live that way.

So in my search for the incorruptible glory of God, this afternoon sitting on my front porch drinking tea, I made a list of my incorruptibles and my corruptibles. Now when I say “incorruptible” I don’t mean that they can’t be corrupted, but rather that they are the eternal and REAL things that will make my soul thrive. They are the dopamines, as opposed to the meth. The corruptibles are the substitutes to the glory God has created us for. Take a looksies.

Incorruptible (Real):

My relationship with God

God’s word

True friendship

God’s approval

God’s real world and created order

Human souls

Corruptible:

Social status

Facebook

The World’s approval

“Fake” impressions of friendship… like social networking creates

Acceptability

Success

This is just a tiny list that could extend on a long long paper reaching from my door to yours, I am sure. However… I didn’t think you’d want to read all of that, So I just wrote a few. As I have written these, I have been convicted in my heart that I need to HONESTLY, and ACTIVELY seek what is TRUE, REAL, and INCORRUPTIBLE. I am setting out a battle plan. And part of it, I am sharing with you, oh ye never ending world of the internet. I am quitting Facebook and and blogging for a while. Just to focus on seeing what is REAL. I want to focus on my real relationships, real sunrises, real work… The real stuff. I will be committing the time I would otherwise spend seeking substitutes, for seeking reality.  And God’s glory. And I have a real good feeling about it. I’ll let you know what I find when I come back. 

WHEW. That was a long blog post. Thank you for the honor of sticking with me in my ramblings.

And so I leave you with this question; What are the incorruptibles you are trading for corruptibles? I challenge you to seek God’s true glory in your life; the real, intended, incorruptible glory. That’s what I’m gonna try and do.

Christ’s grace and peace to you, my fine feathered friends!

Love,

Joyness

A Time for Everything

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1

In life, I have had to learn that no one else in the world will be responsible for my over-all well being. I have a husband and children who love me, but I am responsible for my rest, my quiet time, my eating and exercise and my chill time. I do have countless emails in my inbox that I would love to answer, and there are tasks calling my name around the house, but I have become the queen of turning my head away and sticking to my priorities. I have found that there will be just as many things screaming for my attention tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. But today, I know that my body and mind need a little rest and that when I am a steward of my body, I am protecting my walk with the Lord. I am always simplifying and evaluating if something is worth the effort! I do think that making things beautiful and special during the holidays, birthdays, vacations etc. is worth the effort, as it builds the taste and values and work ethic and ministry skills of my children–-but all in its season. Sometimes I know that it may not be worth it to answer one more phone call or one more email–as this will certainly steal from my children and husband, who need me today.

Each of us has a different puzzle...Read more at Mom Heart Online and join the conversation there, won't you?

Making Friendships Happen

An Overnight with Friends--we do life and ministry together

I hope all of you had a wonderful Easter with your sweet families. Memories were made with Joel and Joy, Clay and me. We experience different family culture with each combination of kids who happen to be living home and it is fun  as long as there are some children who are home. Friends who are like family also had us for a feast of sorts to close the day with grateful hearts.

I was recently remembering how many times I have felt alone or dry both spiritually and emotionally, but when I entered into the company of several particular friends, I always left feeling stronger, encouraged, with more true thoughts about life and the Lord to feed on. These women have an intentionality about their spiritual lives and so I know when I invest time with them, I will be investing in my own spiritual well-being. God created community to be a regular part of our lives, and yet it doesn't just come about by fate--community in this time of history is always precious and has to be developed by planning and intention.

Last summer, twelve women, bedecked with scarves, sparkling earrings, glossy lips, gathered in the garden gazebo deep in the mountains of Colorado. Polite chattering and soft laughter rang through the cluster of women introducing themselves to one another.

As we moved through a tea buffet, piled high with chocolate strawberries, cream scones, raspberry jam and tiny heart-shaped finger sandwiches, we began to ease into the grace of the morning.

Gathering us on her nearby covered porch, around wicker chairs and patio couches, my friend said, “I have invited all of you here today because you have a story to tell.”

Seems that two of her old high school classmates from 40 years before had stopped in town, and my friend wanted these old friends to hear the testimonies of a number of her godly friends, (us!), who had been invited with a purpose. All of us were women of differing ages, but have been involved in groups or Bible studies or ministries with my friend, and she thought she wanted her friends, who were not believers, to have an opportunity to hear of the love of God in a way that would touch their hearts.

“I want each of you to tell a story from your life of how God has been faithful to you, something that is dear to your heart.”

As we circled around each other, life stories began to spill out. Stories of childhood, during World War 2; illnesses from which women had recovered; money that had been provided in the nick of time for a downpayment on a home; newly-wed stories of love and romance. Two hours of story-telling filled our hearts and made such a sweet memory.

As I left, I realized that my friend had set the parameters for a tea party, but because of her intentional planning, the Lord had showed up and filled each of our emotional cups.

Often, women say to me, “No one ever invites me over or calls me.”

If we wait for others to invite us, we may wait for a very long time. An isolationist culture where we don’t know our neighbors and attend big churches where we do not even know most of the people sitting next to us in the pew, has left many people feeling lonely and empty emotionally.

Having moved 17 times, 6 times internationally, I have learned that friendships really don’t usually just happen. Most of the community I now have, have happened as a result of me calling people, having gatherings in my home, making memories with women who inspire me. It is like planting a garden. When I till the soil and plant the seed of love, encouragement, thoughtfulness and reaching out, the seeds of friendship just naturally grow.

I have looked for women who are above me in age, who are wiser and cultivate in me a desire to love God more. I call them, take them out, invite them over—because I know what I sow in the garden of my soul, I will reap. And so I sow times with these women.

Next, I look for peers, those women who are at my stage of life, who share the same issues and needs. I have two prayer partners in the same stage of life as me. One calls me every day and we just pray for each other and find out how each of us is doing. The other friend comes to my house once a week and we go walking along a beautiful trail near my house, and after we have caught up on life, we pray for one another.

Finally, I love spending time with women who are younger than me. Young women who are cultivating their ideals bring fresh and vibrant beauty to my soul.

All of these wonderful friends started with a plan—to invite them into my life; with a purpose, because I needed accountability and love and with a blessing, because I needed to be loved!

This is the reason we are cultivating mom heart groups. We want women to meet around the Word, cultivate friendship, encourage each other in their ideals and to develop long term strength for themselves within their ideals.  We will continue to have more to help you as we seek to provide books, and material that will provide for drawing women together over Biblical ideals. However, all you have to do is pray for God to show you some people, invite friends and then ask them to tell their stories as you share your walk with God, your family and your wishes and hopes with them.

Another blog community is also seeking to gather women together that you might enjoy. It is a  meet up and week-end of community gatherings to encourage and cultivate community and friendships. You can find info about this gathering here:http://www.inrl.us/index.php

Hope you have a great Monday!

*used blog 4/1/2021 The model of Mothering in the heart of Jesus

Javier Oswaldo Rios Calcedo

Jesus said, "I am humble and meek, learn from me,"

Darkness  crept over the crowded city as shadows danced upon the roof tops and meandered through the roads. What a week it had been walking the roads with Jesus, talking to the broken, the sad, the accusing, the curious--that stream of humanity that always grasped for a part of Jesus' day.

 In reality, dusty roads, thousands filing back forth on rutted pathways, noisy crowds, squealing babies, husky voices selling their market wares, wheels churning sand and thrumming on old roads, hungry bellies, and exhilirating conversation all spun together in the minutes of the disciples' lives to make this day, for them, much like any other they had shared over their years with Jesus. How could they possibly have known what the next 24 hours would hold.

The promise Passover celebration brought a familiar comfort to the weary men who had gathered over the memory of God's protection since they were children. Strong herbs blending with the smoky lanterns and be the fresh smell of bread baking, wafted through the home where they would meet in the upper portion of the house together.

And yet, Jesus, knowing that He had cast the stars into their place, that He existed for eternity past in splendor of light and perfect fellowship with the Father, where myriads of angels bowed before him and worshipped,

and also knowing He was soon going to be subjected to hysterical crowds, violent soldiers, aggressive, poisonous jeers and beating, and finally a terrifying death,

willingly, generously, intentionally,  knelt down on the rough sandy carpet, girded himself with a towel, and gently and lovingly wiped the dust off of his beloved friends dirty, stinky feet, all the while speaking in soothing tones, teaching one last bit of wisdom,

"In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage,"

"I will send a helper who will be with you always and He will bring to mind all that I have told you."

"Love one another,"

"I am the light of the world. Believe in me."

Always his heart and words were focussed on his beloved band of friends. Always, He was thinking of how to prepare them, to strengthen them.

Not even in His death, did he focus on His own needs.

"I am humble and meek, learn from me," He said.

All of this for those who could not have known the sacrifice, the depth of choices to humble Himself, or the vast generosity that was being expended from a heart overflowing with love focussed on them. Only maturity would bring gratefulness.

And so, in pondering, I must ask myself, does my heart remain humble as I wash feet, serve a meal? Are my words life-giving and generous, serving to strengthen in my home, with my heart, like the heart of Jesus always on those he served? Do I bow willingly in the dust and stink of my own life because He was so willing to spend His life in giving, serving, loving without thought of Himself, even in His death?

And so, as I come to this night, the night of remembering Him, my heart is overwhelmed with His humility, His focus, His total self-giving without expecting anything in return, and my heart is bowed down with deep gratefulness that this is the God who has called me to serve--never asking anything of me that He did not so willingly do and model so that I would understand the heart and the how of living in such a way.